Stay up to date:Get a free personalized pregnancy and baby newsletter from What to Expect.com

Get your free personalized pregnancy and baby newsletter

or

I'm trying to conceive

I don’t live in the U.S.

First Time Mom

By clicking "SIGN UP," you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We will use your information to send you our newsletters, coupons and special offers, and we share your information with our partners

Melissa Willets

About the Author

Melissa Willets is a mom of three girls, one of whom is a newborn. She writes about pregnancy, parenting, home, health, and beauty. She loves running and drinking red wine - but never simultaneously.

About the Blog

WhatToExpect.com supports Word of Mom as a place to share stories and highlight the many perspectives and experiences of pregnancy and parenting. However, the opinions expressed in this section are those of individual writers and do not reflect the views of Heidi Murkoff of the What to Expect brand.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner received a lot of heat following the Oscar-winning director's acceptance speech in which he called his marriage to the actress "work." This past weekend, the Argo star offered his version of a mea culpa for the oft misinterpreted comment when he joined the five-timers club hosting Saturday Night Live.

"We've worked together on our marriage. And then some uncharitable souls on the Internet took that to meant our marriage was some kind of manual labor. No, that's not it. You define what's important to you by what you dedicate your time to. And my wife knew exactly what I meant," Affleck explained during his opening SNL monologue, according to USA Today.

Soon he invited his famous wife on stage to help him clarify what he meant when he said being married is work. Garner joined the father of her three children to uproarious applause (did she upstage him?).

"It's a way we talk privately about how committed we are to our marriage. Not sure why you had to share that live to a billion people," Garner cracked, causing Affleck to sweat a bit! She then said that if asked, she would call their marriage a gift and not work.

Meanwhile, I agree with both stars in their assessments of marriage, especially when you have young kiddos. It is hard work to get through the day to day challenges of being a parent and a couple. Not every day is rosy, but in the end, what you have built together is so worth the hard times. In fact, I know my family is a gift.

Would you be offended if your spouse said publicly that your marriage was work?